THE CURSE OF NET-FISHING. 163 



A party of Indians told me one day that 

 they had got a fishing-net from some Segovian 

 travellers in exchange for some provisions, and 

 an arrangement was made to go and drag 

 some of the large pools in the Eio Grande 

 (great river). The party consisted of six or 

 seven Indians, naked, with the exception of 

 an apology for drawers ; three of them were 

 armed with axes; light heads on long handles; 

 the others carried the universal weapon, the 

 machete, and I was the only one on horseback 

 with the lasso, without which I never got into 

 the saddle. 



On arriving at the nearest pool, it was 

 decided to try it first, and then proceed up 

 the river, taking the pools in succession, which 

 were here about a quarter of a mile apart. 

 Now, the great curse of net-fishing, in these 

 rivers, is the alligator, who, if he gets enclosed 

 in a net, either breaks his way out and 

 destroys the net, or, as he generally does, by 

 keeping perfectly still, renders it necessary to 

 get him out of the net. The breaking through 

 was easy enough to understand, but it was 

 more difficult to comprehend how the other 

 was performed, though often assured it was 

 of common occurrence. However, the net 

 came up easily enough from the first pool. 



